Reviews for The Secret self 1

The average rating for The Secret self 1 based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-09-17 00:00:00 Adesh Ramdharry 4.5 I have been reading a story here and there for two months- I've never stretched a book out like this, generally it drives me nuts, but I savored these shorts, I wasn't in a rush to finish. By far the best book of shorts I've read. It's comprised of 32 female authors, of which include, Mansfield, Welty, Rhys, Cather, Stein, O'Connor, Monro, Walker, Spark, Carol Oates and Atwood. I was surprised to like the shorts by women who's novels I didn't enjoy like Willa Cather and Dorothy Parker, and others whom I'd been told were great but I didn't enjoy Katherine Mansfield and Gertrude Stein, the surprises, Eudora Welty, Nadine Gordimer (whom I hadn't heard of) , Muriel Spark and Ellen Gilcrest, lastly the authors Ive liked and also enjoyed their shorts, Doris Lessing and Angela Carter. In my experience, books of shorts are inconsistent, one story is great, another is terrible and one might be ok, and on it goes. There were only two stories out of 32 that I didn't enjoy. If Hermione Lee was responsible for choosing the shorts she did s bang up job! The title says The Secret Self 1, I hope there's a 2 and that it's equally as good! Highly Recommend!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-06-16 00:00:00 Ayad Alhendy Katherine Mansfield, Jean Rhys, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker, Anita Desai, Margaret Atwood. Add 26 more acclaimed authors, and you have the stellar cast of writers featured this volume. It is one of my Absolute Favorites. Each story represents the finest world literature, evoking almost every reaction from delight to deep thought - and sometimes all of them together. Dorothy Parker's "Here We Are," for instance, starts with an endearingly nervous couple en route to their honeymoon. Told mostly in dialogue, this 1931 story has been adapted into a one-act play that looks fun to perform. As the small talk develops into the newlyweds' first tiff, Parker characteristically sharpens her critique on marriage. A similar critique - albeit much more sobering - comprises Ahdaf Soueif's story, "The Wedding of Zeina," which is told within a frame story. But of course women don't write only about marriage: in Joyce Carol Oates's "Small Avalanches," 12-year-old narrator Nancy finds amusement in a disquieting chase. For the rest, I'd love to tell you more, but then this review would be long enough for its own volume! One thing, though: I would love to get Vol. 2, so if anyone sees it somewhere, do let me know!